1969 Mustang Stringer Rebuild

Looks Awesome!!! nice work!!!

How did you end up connecting the exhausts back up by the elbowes?

David,
You should be very proud of all your work you did on that boat. Fantastic job!!

It does feel good to be at the helm knowing that everything is brand new again! Congratulations on a job well done and don't hold out on those pics when you get back.

vondy wrote: Sunday we had a good day on the water. Several hours of cruising. It was fairly smooth on the lake except a few areas. I was impressed, after the stringer job the Mustang seems to take the chop a little better. Just feels more solid. Maybe I'm just not as afraid to hit them harder now that I know she's a tank. We will be headed to my brothers this weekend for some more water action. This time there will be some wakeboarding, skiing, kids tubing, so she'll get a good workout. I'll get some good pics while we are there. They have a pontoon so it makes for a good camera platform.

David.
I'm very happy about the result of your project!! Fantastic!!!

Hay Vondy! looking good. cant wait to see the pics.

That's how mine is. Two pickups. Couldn't tell you why. Guess the more the merrier.

BuffaloBFN wrote: You're almost there.    Acetone, light sanding, and wrap it with glass. I wouldn't do a quick fix on a part that will sink you.

Sounds like a smart idea.

Well guys I finally cranked up the Mustang. To my surprise, she ran pretty smoothly. Of course this was in the driveway under no load.

Couple of things I noticed. First, there are some pinhole leaks in my fiberglass exhaust. They have probably been there forever for all I know. Seem to leak the most at idle, goes away under throttle. Thinking about brushing on some epoxy, see if that solves it. Maybe some fiberglass patches. Also had the hose hooked directly up and mine has quite a bit of pressure behind it so don't know if that would have amplified the leaks or not.

Also, Eric, I noticed my transmission turning in neutral at idle. Stopped when I throttled up. Nothing I could not easily stop with my hand. It's also not hooked up to the shaft yet so there is no resistance. Didn't know if this was OK after the rebuild.

Still have to instal the seats, motor box, and side panels. Going to leave the floor out and do a test run to check for leaks first.

I posted a YouTube video of her running. First video so let's see if it works.

Video

I'll have to look at mine later to see how the exhaust lines up with my stringers,but here is how mine is now set up.The stainless pipe is angled in to connect up to the manifolds.

Thanks Pete. Sure wish you lived down the street from me

Where do you find those?

Well guys, the boat has beaten me. She will not be making the trip today. It's been a major battle, everything has been against me. Oh well, at least I'm this far along.

I'm at the alignment stage. Going to need to do something with the front. With my setup I have to flip my front mounts over and add wedges. If not, the front end is always too high. The new iron wedges I have are too small though. So I was going to add a block to the stringer to get it just right. So yeah Keegan, this part took way longer than expected. I actually had less trouble with the stringer job than the reassembly job.

I also have an exhaust issue. Back with my old stringers, the risers where directed partly over the stringers. So the hose was bending outwards to clear it to the pipes. Well maybe it's the thicker material of my new stringers or maybe I just placed them further apart than the last but the situation is even worse. I have some new "flex" hose but it doesn't want to flex in the short length I need to connect to my fiberglass pipes. You guys got any ideas? Maybe some short metal bends like Wakeslayer has setup. Mine would be different of course with the HM risers.

I guess a couple more weeks and I'll have her going. Not staying up till 3am anymore on this project.

I'm considering changing out the cutlass bearing before I put everything back together. Where do I find one of those?

Actually David, that's what I would do. I would call Eric. He can answer that very quickly. It could have affects on the tranny as well as the engine and I'm sure he knows.

Gosh David, I'm trying to remember here. I'm sure Pete knows this like the back of his hand or the Boat Dr. for sure. If you look at the back of the flywheel it has a counterweight. I believe the extra hole is to signify the side the counterweight goes on. You might also search some Ford 302 threads about this. If you don't get it right you will vibrate like crazy with possible disastrous results. If you haven't painted the flywheel yet, you may still be able to see how it was aligned on there by the scratches in the paint.

Extra hole in the crankshaft? You got a pic of that?

If you're talking about the hole in the crank shaft coupler on the rear, that's probably the alignment marker. 302's are externally balanced and the flywheel has to go on using that alignment mark.